SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The gasoline additive MTBE has leaked into 48 wells in public water systems serving hundreds of thousands of people throughout the state, state records show.

The San Francisco Chronicle analyzed data from the Water Resources Control Board and the Department of Health Services and found that leaks of the additive from nearly 1,200 underground tank sites threaten the drinking water supply of millions of Californians.

The data do not include tens of thousands of private wells in California and hundreds of thousands nationwide. Such water supplies are not regulated by public agencies and generally are not tested for MTBE unless holding tanks buried nearby cause concern.

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"The regulators should use the data that's being collected to identify the sites that pose the greatest threat, those closest to drinking water wells," said Anne Happel of the Environmental Protection Agency.

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